MIM Material

Applicable material:

A variety of materials can be applied to MIM technology, including stainless steel, titanium alloy, low alloy steel, tool steel, nickel base alloy, tungsten alloy, hard alloy, magnetic materials, Kovar alloy and so on.

Material selection:

There are many factors to be taken into account when choosing right material for MIM parts, such as maximun cross section, weight of part (raw material costs), tolerances to be met, type of mechanical stress to be applied, hardness, need of additional machining after sintering, etc.

Stainless Steel are the most important metal produced by MIM today.

Table1  Common MIM materials and Application:

Material Category Material Type Application
Fe-based alloys Fe-2Ni, Fe-8Ni Various components of automobile and tool instudy
Stainless steel 304, 316L, 17-4PH, 420, 440C Medical equipment and horologe parts
Hard alloy WC-Co Various cutter, horologe and wrist watch
Ceramic Al2O3, ZrO2 , SiO2 IT electronic, daily necessary and horologe
Heavy alloy W-Ni-Fe, W-Ni-Cu, W-Cu Mikitary industry, communication and daily necessaries
Titanium alloy Ti, Ti-6Al-4V Components of medical and military
Magnetic material Fe, Fe50Ni, Fe-Si Various magnetic components, soft magnetic
Tool steel 42CrMo4, M2 Tools
Copper alloy —— heat conduction, electric conduction

 

Table2   Properties of Typical MIM materials:

Material Density Hardness Tensile strength Elongation
g/cm 3 Rockwell MPa %
Fe-based alloys MIM-2200 (Sintered) 7.60 45HRB 290 40
MIM-2700 (Sintered) 7.60 69HRB 440 26
MIM-4605 (Sintered) 7.60 62HRB 415 15
MIM-4605 (quench/temper) 7.60 48HRC 1655 2
Stainless steel MIM – 316L (Sintered) 7.85 67HRB 520 50
MIM- 17-4PH (Sintered) 7.5 27HRC 900 6
MIM- 17-4PH (Heat Treated) 7.5 40HRC 1185 6
MIM – 440C (Sintered) 7.5 65HRB 415 25
Tungsten alloy 95%W-Ni-Fe 18.1 30 960 25
97%W-Ni-Fe 18.5 33 940 15
Fine ceramic Al2O3 3.9 HRA92 160
ZrO2 6.0 HV1250